11:4a
Jesus replied: The verb replied introduces Jesus’ answer to the question that John’s disciples asked in 11:3. It indicates that Jesus did not ignore the question even though his answer was indirect. He wanted John’s disciples to see the miracles that he was doing. The miracles showed that he was the Christ, the one whom the prophets said would come.
So the implied direct answer is “Yes, I am the Christ/Messiah.” But he did not openly say “Yes, I am the Christ” until his trial (26:62–64). So your translation should keep the implied answer of “Yes, I am the Christ” as implied only.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Jesus answered John’s disciples (God’s Word)
-or-
Jesus replied (New International Version)
Go back and report to John: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as report refers to giving information about something. Jesus instructed John’s disciples to go give a report to John about the things that they heard and saw.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
Go back to John and tell him (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
Go back and report to John (New International Version)
11:4b
what you hear and see: The words what you hear and see refer to the words and deeds of Jesus. According to Luke 7:21, Jesus was healing people while John’s disciples were there with him. So John’s disciples were eye witnesses to at least some of Jesus’ miracles. It is possible that they did not see all the miracles that Jesus mentioned, but they had heard reports about them. They probably also heard Jesus preach.
Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
what you are hearing and seeing (Good News Translation)
-or-
the words that you are hearing and the deeds that you are seeing
-or-
what you hear ⌊me say⌋ and see ⌊me do⌋
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